Guys, this past weekend I was invited to participate in a helicopter hog hunt east of Ennis, Tx with a group of wounded veterans. I've been fortunate that I've flown in a variety of helicopters, mostly in conjunction with my employment prior to retiring 4 years ago, but I had never flown in a Huey. That was corrected on this hunt. i was able to hunt from a Huey both Saturday and Sunday and the hogs were slain. This was an eradication hunt, the local farmers paying $5.00 a head for dead pigs, big or little. I was ablee to fly for about 45 minutes on Saturday and shot 15 hogs, on Sunday I flew about 30 minutes and shot only 5 hogs and 1 coyote, all with an AR 15. There were shooters on both sides of the helicopters and the guy on the other side on Saturday shot only 4 and pn Sunday the other shooter was a young lady that shot 5 also. As it was an eradication hunt no hogs were retrieved. There were 3 Huey's and one Bell on Saturday, but only 2 Huey's were able to fly on Sunday as the Huey I was riding on Saturday was hit by a freak wind burst on when we were headed in on Saturday and damaged the tail boom, cracking the aluminum plate where the boom joins the body. Too bad as the helicopter time was donated and the guys flew it down all the way from Wisconsin. Total number of hogs shot on Saturday was 480, and when I left Sunday morning the total was almost 100. Shooting them out of a helicopter could be addicting, I'm afraid.

No thanks---I got all the low-level "in the dead-man's zone" Huey time I wanted in VN---but glad you enjoyed it--

That sounds like a real blast (sorry).I would love to do that + Heaven knows there needs to be an eradication program in effect.If you don't mind my asking,how much did it cost?

How many were clean kills, or
how many were left wounded?

Any contacts down that way for access
on the ground? IF so, pm me as I'd like
to make the drive. IT's only a 1000miles
down there from here.

Thanks, sounds like an exciting way to shoot
a bunch.

George

480 + 100 = 580 hogs! Wow, the buzzards down there are going to get too fat to fly!

quote:

Originally posted by NormanConquest:
That sounds like a real blast (sorry).I would love to do that + Heaven knows there needs to be an eradication program in effect.If you don't mind my asking,how much did it cost?

The hunt was for veterans and sponsors only, my wife"s company bought a sponsorship and we were invited to participate. There is a local guy 9Heli Hunter) doing hog hunts out of an R-44 , with shotguns, and I think a hunt is around $1500.00 but I'm not sure.

quote:

Originally posted by georgeld:
How many were clean kills, or
how many were left wounded?

Any contacts down that way for access
on the ground? IF so, pm me as I'd like
to make the drive. IT's only a 1000miles
down there from here.

Thanks, sounds like an exciting way to shoot
a bunch.

George

George, as far as I know all hogs were killed, I know the ones I shot were dead and I did not see any wounded pigs in the fields (but I'm sure there were a few) As for access, we hunted on a huge ranch/farm and the owner leases the hunting rights to an outfitter.

Sounds good. Even nasty old hogs
need to die soon without too much
suffering.

wish it wasn't so far and I was in
better shape. there's bound to be
some land owners that would let a
Vet shoot a few hogs.

Thanks for the info. Glad you had such
a great time.

George